Never Again
by teenage-dirtbag
Summary: OneShot. She went back to Tree Hill looking for solace, but stumbled upon much more.


**Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill. Plain and simple. I do own this story though. BTW, the song I used is 'Water Runs Dry' by Boyz II Men.**

They had gotten into a terrible fight. Words said were wished to be usaid and uncried tears wished to be cried. Here Peyton finds herself driving home, home where she knew he knew she would never return. A sentimental ballad played in her car, and though in her taste the music was crappy, she found it too bothersome to change the station.

But that wasn't her excuse.

She felt this insane connection to the song, just like the insane connection she's feeling with the weather. It started raining about thirty minutes ago when she was a few miles away from Tree Hill, and then the rain started to go crazy. She had difficulty driving, but the newly installed streetlamps helped see her way. She knew she was almost there...

_We don't even talk anymore_

_And we don't even know what we argue about_

_Don't even say 'I love you' no more_

_Sayin' what we feel is no longer allowed_

It was just like they'd grown tired of each other. After the summer that Brooke left, they'd been on and off that year, then went steady the next. It was then that he surprised her when he showed up in her flat in New York City, carrying luggage which indicated that he was either vacationing or moving in.

flashback

_"What are you doing here?" Peyton asked, holding her single-order chinese take out. A few moments ago she was just eating while trying to get the sense in a cartoon which takes place in a pineapple under the ocean, with characters like a genderless sponge and a strangely underwater squirrel, when she heard knocking._

_And here was Lucas. _

_"Well, aren't you going to let me in?" He asked, smiling warmly. "Unless you're hiding some naked frat guy there," He peered in to support his joke._

_"Yes, can you wait till Andrew gets dressed?" She replied, hoping to elicit jealousy from him. She secretly loved making him jealous._

_"I have grown accustomed to your lame comebacks." He said, letting himself in. He looked around and saw what seemed to be a very roomy flat. The television was on, showing the cartoon that every kid he saw in the mall went gaga about, and a black leather couch positioned towards it. Behind the so-called living room is a small table for four, with a sliding door leading to the small kitchen. Then a hallway to the right of the door showed three rooms--- the bathroom, something that looked to be an office and the bedroom. Though it was quite small, it was decorated very nicely, since the pieces made the space look bigger._

_"Dare I ask again?" She asked, falling down into the couch and resumed watching while eating her dimsum._

_"Actually, I just got into NYU." He said bluntly, grabbing the box of untouched chinese take out and sitting down beside her. He then started to eat it while watching the response that elicited from her._

_She almost choked on a dumpling. "What?" She asked, feeling the glass of iced tea she put in the side table and drinking one big gulp. "But I thought..." _

_That he had a basketball scholarship back in Illinois, and that joining their varsity team can help when the drafting for the NBA starts. _

_"That I loved you and I wouldn't want to leave you alone in big, bad New York City." He said sincerely, in an accent that made him sound cute. Then he said in his normal voice: "Because I do, and that's why I'm here."_

_She smiled, and they never got to finish their take-out._

end of flashback

Tears streamed down her eyes which made the view before her more hazy. She thought she saw something, which made her hit the brakes. Her car swerved around and almost hit a tree, but immediately stopped in time, like an unknown force preventing her from death. She bowed her head and cried, cried until the station finished playing sad, sentimental songs and the rain had calmed down a bit. It was then she realized that she was in Tree Hill High, the very place where she first saw Lucas.

She got out of the car, ignoring the fact that she could get cold in the rain. She recognized the steel bleachers and the long, grassy plane; she was in the football field. Her hot tears mixed with the cold rain as she ran away from the car, letting her feet take her nowhere. Then she remembered...

_"It's a time capsule. Ten years from now, we'll be coming back to Tree Hill, if ever we leave, and look back on our teenhood." Peyton said, sitting down on the ground._

... So she ran to the middle of the field, hoping that no one had found the box. When she got there, she kneeled down, knowing that she was seven years too early. But her body was eager; her bare hands were already digging through the soil. The soil was soft and muddy with the rain, and she easily felt the metal box that she and Lucas hid. She opened it, and smiled. The contents got wet with the rain, all the pictures and the letters. But then she found a small box that she didn't recall putting there. Opening it, she found a note.

_For Peyton._

Upon unfolding the paper, something small and shiny fell out of it and into the mud. Getting it back and letting the rain wash away the dirt, she found it to be a ring with pretty impressive diamonds on it. She closed the lid of the capsule and ran towards her car. Right now she didn't know what to do. A part of her wanted to run back to his arms, but then a stronger, more proud part told her to stay.

But she didn't need to decide. She stopped when she heard Lucas' voice calling to her.

"Peyton!" He screamed, his voice almost drowned out by the rain.

She was afraid to turn back. Her clothes were soiled by the mud, and she carried the metal capsule that held all of their memories. She stood there, frozen. She could feel her heart beating stronger than the splash of the rain. She was afraid to let him know that she felt reminicent, that she discovered the platinum diamond ring and the note along with it. She was afraid that the moment she turned around she would run to him and hold him. So she stayed.

He noticed the rusty metal box she clutched in her left arm. He also saw that her right fist was clenched tightly.

She decided that she couldn't do this again, not now, not while she felt vulnerable and confused. She needed time, but her voice prevented her from expressing that. She put the box down the ground and walked slowly to her car. She stopped, and remembered the ring she was holding. She let go, and it fell down in a fast shimmer. Her pace hastened.

Lucas walked over to where she dropped the ring, and picked it up. Once again the rain revealed the ring, its exquisite beauty and the dream that went along with it. The dream that someday she would be wearing it around her beautiful ivory finger, along with a beautiful, contented smile on her face.

"Will you marry me?" He asked, he himself quite surprised. The words just sort of came out.

Peyton stopped dead in her tracks. Summoning up her courage, she turned around. "What makes you think that I would say yes to that?" She answered, still quite angry. "After all that's happened, Lucas," She continued as he went near her, "You expect me to go back to you just because I found some dum ring?"

They were only inches apart, but she stood her ground.

"You're not moving." Lucas said, partly to mock her for her anger and to prove a point.

"What do you want me to do?" She answered in a challengingly exasperating tone.

He touched her face, hoping to warm her cold emotions. "I love you, you know? I always did," He admitted, stepping back and looking down at the ring. "I knew before, that's why I put this ring. It was my grandmother's, and I found it while mom was fixing the house. That moment your face came into view." He stopped, and looked at her again. "Listen, I'm sorry for what I said, and didn't say, for what I did and didn't do. I just..."

"I can't... do this right now." She answered in a low whisper, closing her eyes, masking them from baring her true feelings. She turned around again, trying to formulate some sort of alternative plan to driving somewhere and crying in her car.

"Never again," Lucas whispered to himself. He walked briskly and caught up to where Peyton was. He turned her around and she let him; she was weak from the cold and the tears. Her eyes conveyed a sad love that the rain had drowned out. He leaned in and gave her a sweet, true kiss, daring her to pull away. He knew she loved him, but her pride was too strong to show that.

She didn't.

He held her as she sobbed on his shoulder, amidst the storm. An undeniable warmth seeped into her, telling her that this was where she belonged. For what seemed like forever they stood, in an unbreakable embrace, tied by a special bond.

"I love you," He whispered breathily in her ear. She looked up at him with watery eyes. She leaned in and kissed him passionately, conveying with actions what she meant with his words. Fingering the ring in his hand, she put it on.

**Please Review:D**


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